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Adriatic Campaign of World War I
United States Navy |combatant2='Central Powers:' }} The Adriatic Campaign of World War I was a naval campaign fought during World War I between the Central Powers, and the Mediterranean squadrons of Great Britain, France, the Kingdom of Italy, Australia and the United States. Characteristics It consisted mainly of Austro-Hungarian coastal bombardments of Italy′s Adriatic coast, and wider-ranging German–Hungarian submarine warfare into the Mediterranean. Allied forces mainly limited themselves to blockading the German–Hungarian navies in the Adriatic, which was successful in regards to surface units, but failed for the U-boats, which found safe harbours and easy passage into and out of the area for the whole of the war. Considered a relatively secondary part of the naval warfare of World War I, it nonetheless tied down significant forces. The Adriatic campaign was important even because for the first time two new weapons were used successfully in warfare, viz. the human torpedo of Raffaele Rossetti and the MAS torpedo boat of Luigi Rizzo. These small navy vessels sank two Austrian battleships in 1918, and . History 1914 Beginning of the war .]] On 6 August 1914, an Anglo-French naval agreement was signed, giving France the leadership of naval operations in the Mediterranean. The remaining British Mediterranean forces, one armored cruiser, four light cruisers, and 16 destroyers were placed under the control of the French Mediterranean Fleet and both Gibraltar and Malta would be open as bases to the French. One day after the French declaration of war against Austria-Hungary on 11 August, the French fleet—under Admiral Augustin Boué de Lapeyrère—entered Malta. He had orders to sail with all available French and British ships, pass into the Adriatic Sea and undertake whatever operation he thought best against an Austrian port. Lapeyrère decided to surprise the Austrian vessels enforcing a blockade of Montenegro. The main Allied force comprised the French battleships , , and the cruiser . Two French squadrons of pre-dreadnoughts, two squadrons of cruisers, and five destroyer squadrons were held back in support. The British support group comprised two armored cruisers and three destroyer divisions. The Anglo-French force succeeded in cutting off and sinking the Austro-Hungarian light cruiser off Bar on 16 August. Throughout most of late August most of the action was simple bombardment of Serbian and Montenegrin troops by Austrian ships. On 9 August, the pre-dreadnought shelled the French radio station at Budva, while the destroyer shelled Mount Lovcen. On 17 August, Monarch shelled a Montenegrin radio station off Bar, then another station off Volovica Point on 19 August. Meanwhile, a French squadron shelled Austrian troops on Prevlaka. Both the French and the Austrians spent much of this time laying extensive minefields throughout the shallow waters of the Adriatic. Mostly this was done by destroyers, and at night. Several steamships ran afoul of these mines and either sunk or were damaged. The Goeben In July, the German battlecruiser sailed to Triest from Pola. She and the German cruiser had been anchored there since the beginning of the summer. On 1 August, Goeben and Breslau rendezvoused at Brindisi, then headed for Messina to take on coal. They left for Constantinople on 6 August, shadowed by the British cruiser . On 7 August, the Austro-Hungarian Fleet—consisting of six battleships, two cruisers, and 19 destroyers and torpedo boats—sortied from Pola to escort Goeben and Breslau through Austro-Hungarian territorial waters, returned to port following day without ever making contact. Goeben and Breslau briefly engaged HMS Gloucester and the chase was abandoned by the British. By 10 August, both German warships were safely in the Dardanelles and heading for Turkey. Winter In November, the French submarine managed to slip into the Bocche di Cattaro as far as Topla Bay but was chased out by the Austrian destroyer , and the torpedo boat Tb 57T. Later that month, the French submarine raided the harbor barrage of Pola to wait for her chance to intrude. Two days later, on 20 December, during an attempt to sneak into the harbor she got entangled in an anti-submarine net and could not free herself. Forced to surface for fresh air, she was sunk by the Austrian destroyer and Tb 63T, with three casualties. The Austrians raised the wreck between December 1914 and February 1915. It was then repaired and commissioned as in June 1915. On 21 December, the submarine scored one torpedo hit on the French battleship Jean Bart off Sazan Island. The battleship had to withdraw to Malta for extensive repairs. 1915 In February, the French destroyer —while escorting the transport Whitehead to Bar—was sunk after hitting a mine. Also that month, the Austrian submarine U-12 was unsuccessfully attacked off Cape Mendra by a French submarine. Austrian destroyer shelled Montenegrin positions at Bar with Tb 15 and Tb 68F. In April, the Austrian —commanded by Lt. Georg Ritter von Trapp—chased the French armored cruiser off Paxos, but was unable to fire any torpedoes. U-5 also torpedoed the French armored cruiser after a two-day chase off Santa Maria di Leuca, causing 684 fatalities including Rear-Admiral Sénès. Only 137 French sailors survived. The Austrian torpedoed and damaged the British light cruiser . Also, the Austrian destroyer shelled enemy positions at Bar. Bombardment of Ancona When Italy declared war on Austria-Hungary on 23 May, the Austrian fleet was quick to act, launching several attacks on the Marche region of Italy. |publisher=Pula|year=2004|isbn=953-6250-80-2}} That day, the destroyer Dinara and Tb 53T bombarded the port of Ancona. The destroyer —on reconnaissance duty between Palagruža and Cape Gargano—shelled the semaphore and radio station at Vieste and fired upon the Italian destroyer . On 24 May, the bulk of the Austrian fleet at Pola sailed for the Italian Adriatic coast. This included the dreadnoughts , , and eight pre-dreadnoughts. The fleet bombarded several cities and other targets in and around the Province of Ancona, especially damaging the port town of Ancona itself. on .]] The destroyer shelled the Italian airship Città di Ferrara off Ancona. The pre-dreadnought and two torpedo boats bombarded Potenza Picena, then returned to Pola. The Radetzky-class pre-dreadnought , with two torpedo boats bombarded Senigallia, destroying a train and damaging a railway station and a bridge, then returned to Pola. The torpedo boat Tb 3 was unsuccessfully bombed by an Italian airship. The light cruiser shelled the Italian signal station at Cretaccio Island, while —with two torpedo boats—shelled Rimini, damaging a freight train. The destroyer shelled the signal station near Torre di Mileto. The light cruiser , a destroyer and two torpedo boats entered Corsini Channel and shelled an Italian torpedo boat station, a semaphore station, and coastal artillery batteries. The light cruiser —aided by four destroyers—sank the Italian destroyer Turbine in a pitched battle south of Pelagosa. The destroyer shelled the railway embankment near Manfredonia while the destroyer shelled the Manfredonia railway station. Finally, Austro-Hungarian flying boats dropped bombs on Venice and airship hangars at Chiaravalle. Allied raids In response, on 5 June, four different Allied task forces attacked the Austrian coast. Four Italian armoured cruisers, escorted by four French destroyers, shelled Cavtat; the British cruiser —escorted by five Italian destroyers—shelled Donzella; the Italian light cruiser —escorted by four destroyers—bombarded Lastovo; the Italian light cruiser , two Italian and two French destroyers shelled the island of Lissa. On 9 June, a mixed force of British, French and Italian destroyers shelled the Austro-Hungarian signal station at Cape Rondini in Albania. The summer of 1915 The armored cruiser and a squadron of torpedo boats bombard Rimini on 16 June, causing minor damage. Then on 17 June, the cruisers , and their escorts attacked and sank the Italian steamer Maria Grazia off Giulianova. The next day, they shelled Rimini and Fano, destroying the Italian signal station there. The summer of 1915 was a successful time for Austrian submarines as well: on 10 June, sank the Italian submarine and torpedo boat ; sank the Italian torpedo boat PN 5 on June 26 off Venice; torpedoed and sank the on 18 July; and captured the Greek steamer Cefalonia off Durazzo on August 29. But this was not without losses. On 13 August, was sunk at Brindisi by the French destroyer ''Bisson'', after having been severely damaged by the Italian auxiliary cruiser the day before. The Austro-Hungarian naval air-arm also began regular bombing raids against Bari and Brindisi in June, slightly damaging the British protected cruiser in one such raid with machine gun fire. And the British armed trawler Schiehallion was sunk by a mine. The was sunk off Venice by the German submarine on July 2. While the Italian scout cruiser shelled Gravosa station on 18 July, the scout cruiser and three Italian destroyers attacked the Austrian installation at Guiparra. SMS Helgoland, seven destroyers and four torpedo boats supported the Austrian landings at Pelagosa on 28 July, but within two weeks the battalion of troops are taken off. On 17 August, the cruiser was unsuccessfully torpedoed by an Italian submarine on return journey. The town's freshwater cistern was damaged during the bombardment and the Italian troop evacuation took place the following day. The last act of the summer was the sinking on 26 September of the Italian battleship in Brindisi Harbor by Italian-speaking Austro-Hungarian saboteurs. Over 450 were killed. In late September, the Allies established the Otranto Barrage, an attempt to blockade the entrance to the Adriatic Sea at the Strait of Otranto. December In early December, the French submarine ran aground off the Bojana River estuary due to bad navigation, and was sunk by the Austrian destroyer . The cruiser SMS Helgoland and three destroyers sortie against the Otranto Barrage from 5–22 December and performed reconnaissance off the Albanian coast and San Giovanni di Medua. They sank an Italian picket boat, three steamships loaded with ammunition and two armed schooners en route to Northern Albania. On 30 December, the French submarine was rammed by the cruiser SMS Helgoland, and finally sunk by gunfire from the destroyer . 1916 Austrian submarines sank or damaged a number of ships in 1916. captured the Italian hospital ship King Albert on 18 January at San Giovanni di Medua. sank the French destroyer on 16 March at Durazzo. On 8 June, U-5 torpedoed and sank the Italian troop transport Principe Umberto at Linguetta. Later, U-5 fought a French-Italian destroyer group to a stalemate on 2 August, and torpedoed the Italian Q-Ship Pantelleria south of Taranto on August 14. On 15 September 1916, the two Austro-Hungarian seaplanes L.132 and L.135 forced the French submarine to surface by dropping bombs. L.135 finally sinks the sub while the 27 survivors were clinging to the two planes now floating, to be finally saved by the alarmed Tb 100M. This was the first sinking of a submarine by airplanes in naval war history. The very same day, the French submarine Ampére scored two torpedo hits on the Austro-Hungarian Hospital ship No I (the former Lloyd steamer Elektra) off Cape Planka (Rat Ploca), causing two fatalities. The damaged hospital ship had to be beached in Borovica Bay for further repairs. On the night of 22/23 December, the Austro-Hungarian destroyers , , and attacked the drifters patrolling the Otranto barrage, which applied for help to the French destroyers , , , , and which were escorting a convoy from Brindisi to Taranto. Because of communication problems, only Casque and Commandant Rivière attacked, but Casque s boiler rooms were hit immediately and she had to slow down to . For further assistance, the Italian destroyers , and left Brindisi shortly followed by the British cruiser escorted by and . The French and Italian groups met during darkness, Giuseppe Cesare Abba rammed Casque; some moments later, Boutefeu rammed Giuseppe Cesare Abba. While the damaged vessels had to be taken into tow, the Austrians escaped in the darkness. The return from the Otranto battle—15 May 1917—brought the British cruiser within the range of the which had already laid mines off Brindisi. At 13:30, UC-25 torpedoed Dartmouth approximately off Brindisi, for some time the ship was considered to be lost, but was manned by a rescue crew later and finally towed into port. On hearing that Dartmouth had been torpedoed, Boutefeu went to assist, only to hit one of UC-25 s mines. 1917 By August 1917, Lt. Von Trapp and had sunk more than of enemy shipping, including the Italian steamer Milazzo ( ). U-4 torpedoed the French steamer Italia near Taranto on 30 May, and on 16 November severely damaged the Italian steamer Oriona between Brindisi and Valona. The Premuda attack At 03:30 on the morning of 10 June 1918, the battleship —in the company of SMS Tegetthoff and seven other ships en route to attack the Otranto Barrage—was hit by two torpedoes launched from the Italian MAS-15 Motor Torpedo Boat under Corvette Captain Luigi Rizzo near Premuda island, near Zara. Many of the 1,087 crew were asleep, getting rested for the battle expected in a few hours. Immediate chaos soon changed into frantic efforts to save the vessel which was rapidly shipping water. Even Tegetthoff was hit by another torpedo from a second MAS, but it did not exploded. .]] Then Tegetthoff—which had at first sped away from the vicinity of the torpedo attack—returned and took Szent István in tow, in an attempt to reach the massive dry dock at Pola. However, the pumps were unequal to the task before them and the ship continued to slowly list, sinking at 06:12. It is said she sank easily due to faults in the design: relatively low displacement and high centre of gravity, together with the tremendous weight of twelve main artillery. There were, however, only 89 dead, partly attributed to the fact that all sailors with the K.u.K. had to learn to swim before entering active service. The attack on the Otranto Barrage was cancelled as a consequence of this attack. 1918 On 13 February, the submarine (Audry) was lost with all hands after hitting a mine off the Bocche di Cattaro. On 22/23 April, the Austro-Hungarian s , , , SMS Lika and SMS Csepel encountered the British destroyers and , the Australian and the French . HMS Hornet was badly damaged in the ensuing fight but the alarm went up and the Austrians turned for home, pursued by Jackal, who had lost her mainmast. On 20 September, the French submarine was torpedoed north west of Cape Rodoni by the Austro-Hungarian submarine and lost with all hands. Second Battle of Durazzo On 2 October, an allied fleet composed of Italian, British, Australian and American warships attacked the port of Durazzo, Albania during the Second Battle of Durazzo. The fleet consisted of over 55 vessels along with MAS boats and supporting aircraft. Allied forces destroyed Austro-Hungarian shore batteries and defeated a small squadron of patrol craft while sustaining comparatively light damage. Durazzo was left in flames, several building, bridges and railroad targets were bombarded which forced the evacuation of the city. A week or so after the battle an allied army occupied the city without resistance. Sinking of the Viribus Unitis On 1 November, the ex-Austro-Hungarian dreadnought flagship was sunk—along with the merchant ship Wien—at anchor at Pula by limpet mine attached by the crew of an Italian mignatta (human torpedo). The mignatta was the precursor of the human torpedo and was invented by Major of naval engineers Raffaele Rossetti. The whole Austrian Navy was just being transferred to the new state after the dissolution of Austria Hungary. Austro-Hungarian submarines results Many Austro-Hungarian and German U-boats operated out of the Adriatic for the whole of the war. Due to lack of cooperation of the Allies in the Mediterranean control zones, and the late institution of the convoy system, U-boats experienced substantial success throughout the first war years. ''K.u.K. Kriegsmarine'' submarines sunk 117 ships during World War I, with the total of . The most well-known casualties were: * * * * * * * * * Also, the K.u.K. Kriegsmarine submarines damaged the following ships: * * * * See also * Mediterranean naval engagements during World War I * Otranto Barrage References External links * Serbia, Balkans & Macedonia 1914-18 * Combined Operations in the Adriatic, 1915-18 Category:Austria-Hungary in World War I Category:Mediterranean naval operations of World War I Category:Campaigns and theatres of World War I }}